For Western Union Business Solutions's Global Head of Sales, Management Can Mean Juggling

A new job or venture is as terrifying as it is exhilarating, especially if you're a manager. What are the best ways to navigate a big transition? We asked five leaders to reveal what they learned during a recent power move. Then, we tapped the leadership experts at DDI* to assess how our fearless leaders have handled their staff (and themselves) amid the chaos.

Global Head of Sales, Western Union Business Solutions
Agiasotis shot up the corporate chain when Western Union acquired his previous employer, Travelex Global Business Payments. He is now responsible for a staff of 600, as well as his family’s relocation from Sydney to London.

Self-Assessment: "The big change for me has been coming into a public company from a private one. It’s an entirely different set of pressures. A publicly listed company has a board that defines the way that it thinks about the world and identifies the pressures that it is under. I’ve never had to look through the business from a true shareholder’s perspective. There’s a new way of communicating.

I have had my fair share of unexpected situations that have been distracting. I’m dealing with the nitty-gritty of moving and settling into a new country. I’m getting up to speed with the current status of business in other geographies that I hadn’t had much to do with historically. At this stage, I feel like a juggler who is trying to set a new record for how many things he can keep up in the air, and I’m throwing them a little higher than normal."

DDI Assessment: Kerry needs to identify high-level people who have a stake in the outcome of his work. He should cultivate them as partners and demonstrate openness to their ideas. And he should resist the temptation to be the sole author of any plans. Kerry’s strength in the past has been the ability to develop strategies alone. His job now is to build a reputation as the person who brings key people together to make better decisions.

AGIASOTIS'S RESPONSE: "I am someone who wants to be involved in all aspects, from what needs to be done to how it should be done. The challenge for me now is to create an environment where people are empowered and motivated enough to execute on their own. Of all the adjustments I have to make, this has been the hardest."